The quantity of digital data available via networks is immense. Information may be obtained over networks ranging from peer-to-peer networks and local area networks, to global networks such as the Internet. Various types of information may be obtained, including data that is intended to be available to any user, as well as more personalized data such as electronic mail (email), backup data, etc. In many cases, users need to submit credentials to demonstrate that they are authorized to view and/or access certain content. For example, a user may be required to log on to a website to view or download information, log on to a mail server to receive email, etc.
With the ubiquity of accessible digital information, people have come to expect uninterrupted service and seemingly instantaneous access speeds. In addition to technology advances contributing to increased communication speeds, anticipatory techniques may also play a significant role in advancing network communication speeds. For instance, pre-fetching and other anticipatory techniques can make rational assumptions as to what a user might request next. Such decisions may be made on various factors, such as what content the user is currently consuming, known user preferences, past user behavior and/or any number of other factors.
These and other techniques are often possible because the particular user involved in the communication of the information is known. For example, email messages and message list pages could be pre-fetched where the particular user requesting his/her email is known to the mail server or other mail transfer agent. A particular user's typical past behavior could prompt certain information to be transmitted to a holding storage for quick user access, based on a probability that the user will indeed soon request that information. Such techniques can make data and other information requests appear to be nearly instantaneous, even though back end and/or transmission delays are in fact taking place without the user's knowledge.
However, these and other techniques may be based on information that is associated with, or in some cases unique to, the user. Where the user's identity is not yet known, a session has not been established, etc., such techniques may not be available. For example, while a user is logging onto a web-based service, no session has yet been established, and the identity and/or attributes associated with the user are not yet known to the service. While authentication or other initial activities are occurring, the user can only endure the delay and wait until the procedure completes. Authentication requests and other initial communications may involve multiple exchanges of information. The number of hops and round trip times for such exchanges can result in an undesirable “time to glass” (TTG) experience for the user.